Stay
by narutogoddess
Summary: A collection of oneshots for my wonderful OTP! She never expected him to leave her all alone. He promised he'd stay with her forever.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm not sure how far I'm going to get with this fic, but I've been wanting to try out some oneshots recently, so bear with me I guess. **

**Chapter 1**

**Grief**

The war was over. That's all anybody had on their minds these past few weeks. The losses were great, but none were in vain. Every life lost during the long battle was for the cause of bringing peace to the Five Great Nations and to defeat the formidable Akatsuki once and for all. Nobody expected most of what happened in that long, treacherous battle; Obito being Tobi, Kaguya being reanimated, Sasuke suddenly deciding that he was going to be Hokage, and all the other bumps in the road to peace. Yet, the most shocking thing that happened to the village of Konoha, was the loss of their very own Hyuga prodigy.

Loss was unavoidable during a time of battle, she knew that. She grew up with that statement being shoved down her throat by everybody she knew, more so from him than anybody else.

_"__Promise me you'll come back to me," she said to him the night before they were to leave for battle._

_ "__I can't do that," was all he said before rolling over in bed and taking her in his arms for what could be the last time._

That conversation played over and over in her mind for days, or was it weeks? She couldn't remember. She never in a million years thought that that would be one of their last exchanges of words.

Lee and Gai Sensei were over it…no, over it isn't the right words. They were done grieving and they've began to move on with their lives. Being forever handicapped and giving up his ninja career took grieving precedence over one of his students' passing over two months ago. Tenten wasn't as ready as everybody else. A part of her felt that moving on was another way to say 'forgetting', and she was not ready to forget the love of her life.

"Tenten!" Lee called from the porch to her cottage, "I know you're in there, open up!" This has been going on for days. Lee would stop by to check on her, but she refused to come to the door or even just call back to her friend so he'd know that she was still alive. It was almost pointless anyways, she definitely didn't feel alive. "Tenten, it'd been weeks, if you don't come to the door now I'm breaking it down!"

She knew he was serious, and she wasn't taking on any missions anytime soon, which meant she wouldn't have any money to fix a door her rambunctious teammate broke down. It took her a minute to drag herself out of bed and pull on some pants before she could make her way down the stairs to the front door.

The pounding on the front door kept going as she padded her way across her living room. Tenten took hold of the knob, then unlocked the chain that kept the world out. "What Lee..?" she said squinting at the sunlight pouring in from the outside world.

"You haven't been…" he stopped when he noticed the bags under her eyes. "Are you okay?" He forced himself into her house and shoved the door closed behind him.

"What do you want Lee?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you were okay…"

She stared up at her friend for what seemed like hours before finally answering, "Not particularly…"

Lee didn't completely know what to say. He knew that she was hurting, he hurt too, but there was something in Tenten's eyes that told him that there was something much more buried deep in her heart than just losing a best friend. He'd been around her long enough to know. He wasn't stupid, dense, but not stupid, he was one of the few people that could read her like a book. Just watching her mannerisms, he could tell that she hadn't showered in a few days, or eaten a proper meal. This wasn't a sign of sadness. She was depressed. In that moment, he knew.

"Tenten," he said quietly, "did you love him?"

That's when the tears fell. She didn't even realize that she had started crying until Lee gently brushed the water from her eyes. She thought she had used up all her tears. He grasped her slender shoulders and followed her collapse to the floor.

"Hey, it's okay," he tried to reassure, "maybe not now, but it will be, I promise."

"Y-you don't understand," she sobbed, "he promised me he'd stay! He promised!"

This didn't seem right to Lee. Neji wasn't one to tell somebody he'd promise to come back, especially with war staring them down. "What do you mean?" he asked.

She pulled away to collect herself enough to speak without choking on her words. "He promised me that after the war ended we'd…"

"That you'd what?"

_"__Neji, I need you to promise me you'll come back."_

_ "__I told you I can't do that," he replied without taking his eyes off the commander giving them their positions for the battle._

_ "__I know war is unpredictable, and I know it isn't fair of me to ask you to promise me, but I don't think I can give it my all if I don't hear you say it…I need to know that I have something to come back to."_

_ "__You always have something to come back to."_

_ "__Neji, you know that's not what I mean." She lowered her voice to a whisper so only he would hear, "I love you more than anything…I need to know that you-"_

_He cut her off, "Tenten, you know I love you."_

_ "__Let me finish. I need to know that you're not going to let yourself die for something as minimal as protecting the main family when they are all capable of winning their own battles."_

_ "__I'm going to do what I have to to protect my comrades, friends and family. You should do the same."_

_She took his hand and treaded her fingers through his. "I need you by my side."_

_Turning to face her he let his hand slip from hers slightly, running his thumb over her ring finger. "I'll stay."_

_ "__What?" Tenten was shocked at Neji's sudden cave._

_He stared into her eyes. "I can't promise that I'll come back, and neither can you. We can't predict the outcome of war. But I promise, if we both come back, I'll stay with you if you promise to stay with me…forever."_

_ "__What do you mean?" She already knew, but she wanted to hear him say it._

_ "__I-I'll marry you…I mean, if that's what you want…"_

_Seeing him flustered wasn't a common occurrence, but she loved knowing that her always stoic Neji had a soft side. "Is Neji Hyuga blushing?" she teased._

_ "__Shut up…just answer the question…"_

_ "__Yes. When we both get back, I'll marry you."_

**A/N: Don't forget to review! 3**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**I love you**

Plenty of time's she said it to him. Even before they admitted that they liked each other. She told him she loved him anytime she thought he needed to hear it. On missions when things got tough, "I love you." After he walked her home from a busy day of training, "see you tomorrow, I love you." Before the final rounds of the Chunin exams, "Good luck! I love you!" Then once when they were fifteen, before Naruto had even come back from training with Jiraiya…

They had just gotten back to the village after a long mission with just the two of them and the streets were empty. Of course that had to do with the ungodly hour of their return, but their silence was uncomfortable. He walked her home, as he usually did, whether it was the middle of the night or not. They arrived on the front porch of Tenten's apartment but she couldn't ease herself to go inside just yet.

"Hey…" she started, "I love you…"

"I know you do, you tell me almost every day."

"No, that's not what I mean."

He was confused, not because he all of a sudden thought that she had been lying every other time, but because he was a stupid teenage boy that didn't know how to tell if a girl liked him unless they basically screamed it in their face. "What are you-?"

She cut him off, and tried her best to avoid eye contact, "I'm _in _love with you Neji…"

"You're…oh…"

"I already know you don't feel the same way. It's okay Neji, I just thought you should know." She turned back to the door to her apartment that was wide open, ready for a needed escape, but he stopped her with a quick grab of her small wrist.

"That's not…" he stopped before he could finish his sentence, he didn't know exactly how to continue. Neji's never had to do this before. Rejecting was easy, he did it with fan girls all the time, but this was Tenten, his best friend. "It's not that I don't feel the same way…" he tried to go on, but stopped himself again in search for the exact right words. "It's just that…You're my best friend…"

"But you don't love me, I get it. It's not a big deal…" She was telling him the truth. She didn't expect mutual feelings between her and Neji ever. She just wanted him to know how she felt.

"I didn't say that…" She finally looked up to meet his eyes. He still had a firm grasp on her wrist and it wasn't like he was planning on letting go anytime soon.

"Neji, your uncle's going to be wondering where you are…" she spoke mostly just to fill the awkward silence and get him off her porch so she can sleep, and maybe cry to grieve away the sudden loss of bottled up feelings.

He ignored her remark and replaced it with, "I'm not supposed to be with anybody outside of my clan…"

Now that hurt. It wasn't the fact that Neji didn't love her back, or that her and Neji's relationship may never be the same again. She hurt for him, because deep down, she knew he reciprocated her feelings and there was nothing they could do about it. "Why?" It was the only thing she could get out.

"Because of the Byakugan…it's a dominant trait, but there's always the possibility of an offspring not getting it if…"

"Right..." It was silent again after that, even after Tenten had silently invited him into her apartment to get out of the cold temperature of night, but neither of them could get themselves to move out of the entryway. She finally broke the silence again by saying, "we don't have to tell anybody…"

He stared at her momentarily to look for any sign of a joke. "Why would you do that?"

"Because Neji, that's how much I want to be with you. I don't care if I can't tell my friends or my family. I don't care if I can't hold your hand in public…that's how much I love you." She would have kept going with excuses to back up her words so she'd convince him to stay if he hadn't shut her up by pressing his lips to hers. She was surprised at first, but she quickly got over that and kissed him back. When he finally pulled away the only thing she could say was, "you love me."

He pressed his lips into a firm line to keep himself from smirking. Because he did love her back. Not that he'd say it out loud anytime soon, but he did. He's known for a while, but kept his mouth shut for the same reason she had. He didn't know for sure if she felt the same way, and Neji had never been rejected before, it scared him. However, this wasn't rejection. This was mutual love that neither of them really knew what to do with at the moment, and they were determined to make it work.

**A/N: I'm sorry this one is short, I spent a good two hours re-reading the last paragraph and I just couldn't get it to go any further. But I hope you enjoyed anyways! Don't forget to review! I love hearing from my readers 3**


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